Tacitean studies

The Annals, or, in Latin, Annales, is a history book by Tacitus covering the reign of the 4 Roman Emperors succeeding to Caesar Augustus. The parts of the work that survived from antiquity cover (most of) the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. The title Annals was probably not given by Tacitus, but derives from the fact that he treated this history in a year-by-year form. The (probably) original title was Ab excessu divi Augusti, "Following the death of the divine Augustus". Annals Tacitus - ...

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• Annals Tacitus - Content
• Annals Tacitus - Style

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The Annals was Tacitus' final work, covering the period from the death of Augustus Caesar in the year 14. He wrote at least 16 books, but books 7-10 and parts of books 5, 6, 11 and 16 are missing. Book 6 ends with the death of Tiberius and books 7-12 presumably covered the reigns of Caligula and Claudius. The remaining books cover the reign of Nero, perhaps until his death in June 68 or until the end of that year, to connect with the Histories. The second half of book 16 is missing (ending with the events of the year 66). We do ...

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Annals Tacitus, Annals Tacitus - Content, Annals Tacitus - Style

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The message of the story appears to concern the relationship between liberty (as demonstrated by the Roman Republic, and the dedication to its ideals shown by Augustus and young Claudius) and stability (as demonstrated by Empress Livia, Herod Agrippa, and the elder Claudius). The Republic provided for freedom, but was inherently unstable and threw the doors open for endless civil wars, of which the last was ended by Augustus after twenty years of fighting. While Augustus harbors Republican sentiments, his wife Livia manages to convince him t ...

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I Claudius, I Claudius - Content, I Claudius - Adaptations for film and television

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The book was to have been the subject of a 1937 film, produced by Alexander Korda and starring Charles Laughton, but it was dogged by ill-luck, culminating in a serious accident involving the female star, Merle Oberon, which caused filming to be abandoned. Some rushes still exist; the BBC featured them in a programme about Claudius some years ago, and were able to cut them together to make about five minutes' running time. In 1976, the book, together with its sequel, was adapted for television by the BBC, and proved one of the corpora ...

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I Claudius, I Claudius - Content, I Claudius - Adaptations for film and television

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In contrast to the Historiae, the style leaves behind rules and convention in favor of a strangeness that is achieved by the use of unusual forms, of an archaic and solemn lexicon. The Annales are less fluid than the Historiae. They are also more concise and severe. There is even more predilection for incongruity. The unharmonious verbal forms reflect the discordant events and the ambiguity of the characters' behaviour. There are many violent metaphors and audacious uses of personification. Poetic styles, especially that ...

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Annals Tacitus, Annals Tacitus - Content, Annals Tacitus - Style

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A different interpretation of republicanism is used among political scientists. To them a republic is the rule by many and by laws while a princedom is the arbitrary rule by one. By this definition despotic states are not republics while, according to some such as Kant, constitutional monarchies can be. Kant also argues that a pure democracy is not a republic as the unrestricted rule of the majority is also a form of despotism. ...

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Republicanism, Republicanism - Anti-monarchial republicanism, Republicanism - Early History, Republicanism - Modern History, Republicanism - Republicanism in political science, Republicanism - Classical antecedents, Republicanism - Civic humanism, Republicanism - Enlightenment republicanism, Republicanism - Modern republicanism

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Tacitus's works contain a wealth of information about his world, but details on his own life are lacking. Even his praenomen (first name) is uncertain. What little we know comes from scattered hints throughout the corpus of his work, the letters of his friend and admirer Pliny the Younger, an inscription found at Mylasa in Caria[1]< ...

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Tacitus, Tacitus - Biography, Tacitus - Descent and place of birth, Tacitus - Public life marriage and literary career, Tacitus - Works, Tacitus - Major works, Tacitus - Minor works, Tacitus - The sources of Tacitus, Tacitus - Literary style, Tacitus - Approach to history, Tacitus - Prose style, Tacitus - Studies and reception history, Tacitus - Notes

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Leonardo Bruni's most notable work is History of the Florentine People which has been called the first modern history book. Bruni was the first historian to write about the three period view of history: Antiquity, Middle Age and Modern. The term Middle Age was first coined by a contemporary Flavio Biondo. The dates he uses to define the periods are not exactly what modern historians use today, but he laid the conceptual groundwork for a tripartite division of history. While it probably was not Bruni's intention to secularize hi ...

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Leonardo Bruni, Leonardo Bruni - Biography, Leonardo Bruni - Significance, Leonardo Bruni - Bibliography

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One meaning of republicanism is the opposition to monarchies. Republic comes from the Latin word res publica and one meaning of this term is the form of government that began with the overthrow of the last tyrant known as the Roman Republic. While this government was much lauded by its contemporaries, once it was replaced with the empire, republicanism became all but nonexistent throughout Europe for several centuries. Outside of Europe, opposition to monarchy before the modern period is not generally termed republicanism. Islam, for ...

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Republicanism, Republicanism - Anti-monarchial republicanism, Republicanism - Early History, Republicanism - Modern History, Republicanism - Republicanism in political science, Republicanism - Classical antecedents, Republicanism - Civic humanism, Republicanism - Enlightenment republicanism, Republicanism - Modern republicanism

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Five works ascribed to Tacitus have survived (or at least: large parts thereof). Years are approximate, and the last two (his "major" works), took probably more than a few years to write. (98) De vita Iulii Agricolae (The Life of Julius Agricola) (98) De origine et situ Germanorum (The Germania) (102) Dialogus de oratoribus (Dialogue on Oratory) (105) Historiae (Histories) (117) Ab excessu divi Augusti (Annals) ...

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Tacitus, Tacitus - Biography, Tacitus - Descent and place of birth, Tacitus - Public life marriage and literary career, Tacitus - Works, Tacitus - Major works, Tacitus - Minor works, Tacitus - The sources of Tacitus, Tacitus - Literary style, Tacitus - Approach to history, Tacitus - Prose style, Tacitus - Studies and reception history, Tacitus - Notes

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Five works ascribed to Tacitus have survived (or at least: large parts thereof). Years are approximate, and the last two (his "major" works), took probably more than a few years to write. (98) De vita Iulii Agricolae (The Life of Julius Agricola) (98) De origine et situ Germanorum (The Germania) (102) Dialogus de oratoribus (Dialogue on Oratory) (105) Historiae (Histories) (117) Ab excessu divi Augusti (Annals) ...

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Tacitus, Tacitus - Biography, Tacitus - Descent and place of birth, Tacitus - Public life marriage and literary career, Tacitus - Works, Tacitus - Major works, Tacitus - Minor works, Tacitus - The sources of Tacitus, Tacitus - Literary style, Tacitus - Approach to history, Tacitus - Prose style, Tacitus - Studies and reception history, Tacitus - Notes

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Tacitus was able to consult the official sources of the Roman state: the acta senatus (the minutes of the session of the Senate) and the acta diurna populi Romani (a collection of the acts of the government and news of the court and capital). He could read the collections of speeches by some emperors, such as Tiberius and Claudius. Generally, Tacitus was a scrupulous historian who paid careful attention to his historical works. The minor inacurracies occurring in the Annals might be due to the fact that Tacitus died befo ...

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Tacitus, Tacitus - Biography, Tacitus - Descent and place of birth, Tacitus - Public life marriage and literary career, Tacitus - Works, Tacitus - Major works, Tacitus - Minor works, Tacitus - The sources of Tacitus, Tacitus - Literary style, Tacitus - Approach to history, Tacitus - Prose style, Tacitus - Studies and reception history, Tacitus - Notes

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Tacitus's writings are known for their instantly deep-cutting and dense prose, seldom glossy, in contrast with the more placable style of some of his contemporaries, like Plutarch. When he describes a near-to-defeat of the Roman army in Ann. I, 63 this is one of the rare occasions where he applies some kind of gloss, but then still rather by the brevity with which he describes the end of the hostilities, than by embellishing phrases. In most of his writings he keeps to a strictly chronological ordering of his narration, with only seldom an outline of the bigger picture, as if he leaves it to the reader to co ...

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Tacitus, Tacitus - Biography, Tacitus - Descent and place of birth, Tacitus - Public life marriage and literary career, Tacitus - Works, Tacitus - Major works, Tacitus - Minor works, Tacitus - The sources of Tacitus, Tacitus - Literary style, Tacitus - Approach to history, Tacitus - Prose style, Tacitus - Studies and reception history, Tacitus - Notes

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From Pliny the Younger's 7th Letter (to Tacitus), §33: Auguror nec me fallit augurium, historias tuas immortales futuras.   I predict, and my predictions do not fail me, that your histories will be immortal. Tacitus is remembered first and foremost as Rome's greatest historian, the equal—if not the superior—of Thucydides, the ancient Greeks' foremost historian; the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica opined that he "ranks beyond ...

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Tacitus, Tacitus - Biography, Tacitus - Descent and place of birth, Tacitus - Public life marriage and literary career, Tacitus - Works, Tacitus - Major works, Tacitus - Minor works, Tacitus - The sources of Tacitus, Tacitus - Literary style, Tacitus - Approach to history, Tacitus - Prose style, Tacitus - Studies and reception history, Tacitus - Notes

Read more here: » Tacitus: Encyclopedia II - Tacitus - Studies and reception history